8 Symptoms of Sexual Addiction

Below are 8 symptoms of sexual addiction. To make this article more personal, I’ll provide examples from my history and how it applied to my flavor of sex addiction. That being said, please keep an open mind and try to draw parallels with other forms of sexual behavior. Behaviors might differ for different people, ranging from online pornography to sex with prostitutes and other illegal acts. Underlying symptoms, however, remain the same.

1. Using sexual behaviors to escape stress and other problems of life

I remember when I was in college and active in my addiction. I would push myself really far to try to get the best grades I could. I would stay up long nights attempting to study for my exams. In reality, however, I would hit a point every night where I would snap and go into countless hours of pornography and masturbation.

2. Returning often to a particular sexual behavior and seeking more intense experience

Another symptom of sexual addiction is adaptation to current sexual behavior and seeking out more intense ways of sexual stimulation. In my experience such escalation happens much faster with online pornography than other forms of sexual acting out.

My pornography use began with mildly erotic videos. They, however, quickly became boring and I moved on to more violent and stimulating videos. In the worst part of my addiction I would spend many hours each day watching some of the dirtiest and sickest pornographic videos that I could get my hands on, and still all of that pornography would not be enough for me.

Once even the sickest forms of pornography has stopped to produce a desirable result for me, my mind began to wonder towards other ways of sexual acting out, such as anonymous hookups and hiring a prostitute.

My addiction began to take so much time, that I was constantly running late for things such as family dinner, classes or work, forcing me to make up all kinds of lies and excuses for my behavior. I constantly felt like I was always living a double life.

4. Constant preoccupation, can’t stop thinking about sex

I remember one day my wife was getting ready to leave for work at 6am on Saturday morning. Instead of helping her get ready, or getting up to say goodbye, I pretended to be asleep. I couldn’t contain my excitement, because I knew that after she’ll leave I’ll have 8 hours of unrestricted acting out.

When I caught myself thinking that and got really scared by my feeling. Unfortunately, such feelings were very common for me. Everything else in life seemed to fade away compared to the excitement I felt when I thought about acting out.

5. Seeking out sexual activities for longer periods of time and more often than intended

I don’t know how many times in my past I have told myself that I am just going to visit an adult site for 15 minutes to take a break, only to find myself at 2am still browsing for pornography, wondering what just happend.

I also had many experiences where I would go to a strip club with some friends, and once there I would lose any sense of time and would always feel a strong pull to stay there for just “one more dance” feeling that next girl could be “the one” act that I was looking for all night.

6. Trying and failing to limit or stop a particular sexual behavior

There has been hundreds, if not thousands of times that I swore off particular behavior. For example, I would tell myself I would never watch certain kind of hardcore pornography, only to find myself visiting all of my “favorite” sites a week or two later.

7. Discomfort and irritation when trying to stop a sexual behavior

Whenever I realized that I had a real problem, and tried to stop, I found myself feeling very irritated. I’ve quit smoking before, and the feeling was very similar, but actually stronger. It felt like a very important part of my life was missing. As a result I felt very grampy and would often snap at my loved ones and other people close to me.

8. Crossing accepted boundaries or committing illegal sexual acts

Up to this point, I mostly shared stories related pornography use. Unfortunately, pornography was not my only ways of sexual acting out. I did try to control my addiction, by only acting out through pornography. I was successful at it for the most part, but sometimes I ended up cheating, having unprotected sex, and performing sexual acts in public, risking getting arrested.

Thankfully I realized that I had a problem and got into recovery. There is no question in my mind that if things went on the way they did, me getting arrested for some sort of illegal sexual behavior was just a matter of time.

Conclusion

If you find yourself identifying with many of these symptoms of sex addiction, I would highly encourage you to look honestly at yourself. It is not about putting labels on people, but rather about finding help, if help is needed.

If you would like to learn more about sex or pornography addiction make sure to check out our free recovery course.

[recovery_course]

In any case, thank you for reading, and please let me know if you have any feedback in the comment area below.

Free Recovery Course for Porn Addiction and Sex Addiction

Join the millions of people who ended their their sex addiction and porn addiction by Feeding the Right Wolf.

Welcome to the FREE recovery course for sex and porn addiction. Right now, in this moment, you are doing the exact same thing that I did.

I found this site very early in my recovery from sex and porn addiction and it completely changed my life. It represented a powerful shift for me and is one of the reasons I’m where I’m at today.

It’s when I started to FEED THE RIGHT WOLF inside me instead of obsessively focusing on what I didn’t want to do.

Watch this video to learn more about Feed The Right Wolf and then download your FREE recovery course for you or for your partner.

Craig Perra, C.P.C., J.D.

Certified Professional Coach, Feed The Right Wolf

## Please note Educating yourself is very important, but it is the actions that you take that will set you free. If you are ready to change your life I recommend the following 3 action steps:

One – Read through every article in the Free Recovery Course that you can download on this page – and join the forum hereto connect with other men and women for support.

Two – Sign up for accountability software. I recommend Covenant Eyes at $10 a month, but if you can’t afford it at this time, K9 filter could work for you.

Three – Sign up for one-one one sessions with one of our coaches or this powerful online program that I (Alex) highly recommend. Call (916) 259-3827 to learn more (I know Coaches Craig and Michelle Perra personally – they do amazing work, save families, and change lives). You can schedule a free coaching session here.

Share this:

44 Comments

Whenn i was in my 10th clas i first time watched a porn picture.that time i was kiddish personality . I had a boyfrind he told me abt sex n then brkup then again a boyfrnd he was the first guy who smuched me .after that he too left me then i made more boyfrinds bt i never went close to anyone the reason was i used to watch porn pics to satisfy myself .i had my first orgasim when i was 18 . I was ok earlier bt last year i was in a relationship i was truely in love wid tha guy .he was a porn addict n wid time he told me abt it .instead of recovering him from this bad habbit i too confessed my problm .he was truely loyal n sincere guy . Then he left porn n we started phone sex .everyday i was like i want more .he masturbated at peak .n i felt my first orgasim wid him .he told me i should rub my thighs n it will work .i did the same n then after a year he had an accident and he died n now m addict of all this i dnt watch porn much .bt i just keep thinking dirty things n then i just get out of control . I never had sex this time i am 20 n i think i cant focus on anything .when i am on my bed i go wild every night . I keep touching myslf n thinking of my first sex n oll .i honestly reget many times bt i still continue i cant stand on my words.sometimes i feel this is the only good thing in this world .i deeply get dpressed i cry on mirror .i find my self so lonely n then i again seduce myslf to overcome it. I tok alot wid frnds n other they say to me .cant you just keep quite .but when i am back to my room i feel walls showing me mirror that m a dirty girl .it haunts me every night i cry. I cant say it to anyone its because i never had a bstfrnd so close to me to share all this .even i dont have proper frnds .i keep on changing my company .n i was alone from beging. When i was kid just 6 years old my cozin used to grab me n kiss me all over that haunts me i was so innocent that time .i feel myslf the worst off all . Please help me i want a positive change not only to decrease my sexuality but also my deppresion .i am deeply broken

hi,
I’m an Indian girl,20 yrs old and currently pursuing my graduation…I’ve lot of career related priorities but i feel i m stuck with this addiction . My story for this addiction starts from 2011 when i was in school in 9th standard and was in a serious relationship. my classmate introduced me to porn…my boyfreind knew about this. on his insistence i left this habit in a very preliminary stage however my relation ended within two years…we had lot of serious plans together of marriage and starting family…i became emotionally dependent on him because of my 10 yrs of loneliness, aloofness and isolated living in school and family. even after the breakup he used me as a commodity which he used just to quench his lust by asking me to describe about my breasts, pressing them publicly and asking me to fantasize our first intercourse which never happened…he used to torture me emotionally , mentally and physically but i never said a word because i loved him truly and he was already enjoying somewhere else. i waited for him for 2 yrs and at last took a bold move to get out of this use and throw relationship…
the reason why i took this bold step is because our mutual freind and by best freind’s boyfreind took advantage of the whole situation and blackmailed to an extent that i agreed to strip off and pose nude for him just to save my family…he gradually became so aroused from those images that he began to stalk me,chase me like a mad wolf in thirst of pleasure.
my ex boyfreind upon knowing everything sidelined with him…and that day i put a brave face on me and moved out of that life and joined some meditation retreat.

but that retreat was not much helpfulbecause i was all suppressing myself, my pain, my depression and my isolated life that was only packed with books, loneliness, college and home and retreat no one to listen me…no freinds nothing…this isolationand that feeling of broken and failed relationship led me on this path of stronger porn addiction….i also spent longer hours of my study on watching porn that could suit my carving hardcore, dominating, extremely an*l etc.
now i wanted to get rid of this life of mine…i know that i cannot change my past, nor can i get my love back but i can change my future and shape my present which is swallowed by this porn addiction.

Is not really sex addiction when gets no sex. Mostly looking at these things on the web, some very nasty, rest of time sending pink mail trying to find contributors for Russian investment opportunities.

These devices are junk and do not make the penis bigger. Do not waste your money on them. People selling them are dishonest. Pills also are waste and do not make bigger.

Why is it that in the real world women continually tease a man driving him hornier and hornier, but seldom do they RELIEVE a man? ( And the same is true for some men who only TEASE women, but don’t deliver. ) Is it any wonder that porn or online becomes real tempting when a guy gets bombed with this on a several times a day basis?

I am a 16 year old pansexual girl and I think I may have a sexual addiction.
I have looked at the ‘8 signs’ and and felt a connection to all except the last one. I am still a virgin but I masturbate multiple times a day, and I had my very first orgasm when I was about 10 or 9, when my old step-sister told me it felt good to ‘rub down there’. I watch a lot of porn for a girl my age I think, five/four out of seven days a week for hours which keep me up until very late hours of the night. I have watched things that I am ashamed of, and have promised to never watch again, but I kept going back to the same videos as I have become almost addicted to the feelings they bring out. The ONLY reason why I am still a virgin is because I was molested when I was younger and I feel like I can only entrust my body to myself. I have become more daring in my quest for satisfaction and I have masturbated with my door open, while there have been other family members in the house, and also in a few public places, but I have not been caught and I love the rush.

I used to read a lot of teen novels to past time, some children books, but now the only books I read HAVE to have smut in them. I am constantly aroused, and become aroused easily. I have lately had this fascination with dominating or being dominated by a dominate person, and that has lead me to watch even more disturbing videos, such as beastiality. I use porn and masturbation to relax, and it has been a stress reliever for a few years. I have tried to stop masturbating a few times but I can only last two days before I snap and go on a frenzy, almost overly sensitive. It is all I think about, and I have done worst things than what I have mentioned previously, things that I can’t bare to write as it will make it seem real. I’m not sure if you can have a sexual addition at this age, if it’s just my hormones trying to figure themselves out, or I actually may have some type of sexual addiction, but I would love to hear your opinion.

I have been socially awkward since I was very little. My parents divorced due to infidelity, when I was almost 5 years old. My parents dating other people was a series of stressful experiences.

My first “best friend” introduced me to pornography and we used to work together to acquire any porn we could get our hands on. I used to take my dads porn videos and painstakingly ensure that the video was reset to where it was after I watched it.

My bad teeth and childhood speech problems fuel my oral fixation.

Once, I was able to admit my addiction to my wife, but it took a large dose of liquid courage (whiskey). I am not even sure what she remembers from that night. It was very emotional.

I masturbated before returning to this site. I feel bad that I think it is alright, since it was to nudity and not anything hardcore. This is my first time having the courage to post.

Most of all I am tired of not living life to the fullest. I want to be stronger of mind, body, and spirit. My work ethic has never been stellar, but lately my depressing attitude has gotten in the way of my success. I am struggling with my fear of failure, since I am in my last semester of college. I should be doing homework right now.

I do not want to be perfect. I do, however, want to be present. I feel like I have let too much of my life drift past. I have wasted so much time! For what? Some stupid chemicals and a feeling of power. I enjoy knowing what the….lets say actors and actresses….are going to do. I pick videos based on categories so that I can feel like I made a decision and it was followed. I look into my reflected eyes and think, “where is that boy who was so full of love, hope, and loyalty?”